Arizona Probate Legal Service Agreement

The first step to hire Richard Keyt, his son former CPA Richard C. Keyt and their law firm KEYTLaw, LLC, to represent the personal representative of an estate in an Arizona probate court is to prepare our Arizona Probate Legal Services Agreement. The person who will be the personal representative of the estate must enter his or her information below and click on the submit button at the bottom. When you submit the Agreement our system will immediately send this Agreement to the email address entered below.

The second step to hire us to represent the personal representative is for the personal representative to send a security deposit check for $2,500 payable to KEYTLaw, LLC, to 7373 E. Doubletree Ranch Road, Suite 165, Scottsdale, AZ 85258.

Arizona Probate Legal Services Agreement

1. Effective Date of this Agreement*

Information about the Personal Representative

2. Name of the Person Who is Will be the Personal Representative ("You")*

Enter the legal name of the person who is entering into this legally binding Agreement with Richard Keyt and his law firm KEYTLaw, LLC.

3. Personal Representative's Mailing Address*

Street AddressAddress Line 2CityStateZIP Code

4. Personal Representative's Email Address*

Enter EmailConfirm Email

5. Personal Representative's Phone*

Information about the Deceased

6. Legal Name of the Deceased*

PrefixFirstMiddleLastSuffix

7. Last Residence Address of the Deceased*

Street AddressAddress Line 2CityStateZIP Code

8. County in Which the Deceased Resided at Time of Death*

9. Date of Death*

10. Deceased's Relationship to the Personal Representative*

11. Does the Deceased Have a Will?*

Yes

No

Don't know at this time

Terms & Conditions

12. Hiring the Firm*

The Personal Representative desires to hire Arizona probate attorneys Richard Keyt, his son former CPA Richard C. Keyt and the law firm of KEYTLaw, L.L.C. (the “Firm”) to represent the Personal Representative as the personal representative of the estate of the Deceased. When the Personal Representative submits this Agreement, pays the $2,500 security deposit required to hire the Firm and the Firm accepts the representation, the Firm will prepare the documents necessary to initiate a probate in the Arizona Superior Court in the county in which the Deceased resided.

13. Client & Client's Potential Conflict of Interest*

KEYTLaw, LLC, (‘we”) will represent the Personal Representative in his or her capacity as the personal representative (“fiduciary”) of the probate estate . We do not represent the Personal Representative in his or her individual capacity as a beneficiary and cannot because it would create a conflict of interest. We will inform the Personal Representative if an actual conflict arises that requires the Personal Representative to obtain independent counsel. As a fiduciary, the Personal Representative has a duty to collect the estate’s assets, pay the decedent’s debts, and perform other administrative duties that might arise, including distributing the assets in accordance with the Will or Arizona law of intestate succession if there is no Will.

14. Scope of Work*

We will advise You of the actions necessary to administer the probate. We will be responsible for preparing the legal papers and file them with the Superior Court to accomplish the complete administration of the decedent’s estate. We will investigate the facts, examine information, and coordinate the professionals needed to administer the estate. If there is a contested matter, we will prepare, file, prosecute or defend the actions required for You to discharge your fiduciary duties to the distributees, heirs, and creditors of the estate. Using the information You give us, we will prepare and file the notices required for You to discharge your fiduciary duties. We will prepare the paperwork necessary to collect and distribute the assets of the estate to the heirs.

15. Excluded Services*

We are not hired to provide any of the following services:

a. Negotiating tax disputes with the IRS or Arizona Department of Revenue.

b. Handling any dispute over decedent’s social security payments.

c. Preparing any tax applications, returns, reports, or notices, except for applications to obtain a taxpayer identification numbers (Form SS-4), and notice of acting in a fiduciary capacity (Federal Form 56 and AZ Form 210).

d. Preparing any financial accounting reports.

e. Preparing any paperwork to collect assets located outside the state of Arizona.

f. Transferring any assets that pass by operation of law.

g. Any work not described in Section 14 above.

16. Firm Personnels' Hourly Rates*

We will bill for the services described in Section 14 at the hourly rates of the personnel who provide services. Our law firm’s cultural priority is to provide exceptional legal services at the best price possible which means the least expensive time keeper will do the work for which that timekeeper is qualified and a partner of the Firm will supervise everything critical to accomplishing our mission. It is impossible to determine in advance how much time will be needed to complete the probate. Any figures quoted to you for the total cost of our services are estimates, not guarantees. The current hourly rates are: legal assistants ($ 205), Richard C. Keyt ($ 295) and Richard Keyt ($395) .

17. Costs & Expenses*

You agree to pay for all actual out-of-pocket costs and expenses we pay or incur on your behalf. Typical costs and expenses include court filing fees, discovery and deposition charges, travel expenses, certified copy fees, long -distance telephone calls, courier services, and delivery charges. We may elect to cover certain out -of-pocket costs and expenses on your behalf, but we reserve the right to seek reimbursement from you. You agree to reimburse us for such out-of-pocket costs and expenses.

18. Deposits*

A condition to hiring the Firm is that you must pay a deposit of $ 2,500 for fees, costs and expenses. Additional deposits may be required throughout our representation. If the probate involves any litigation or becomes contested or a formal or supervised probate, we may require that you or the estate pay an additional amount in advance as a condition to providing additional services. When we complete our services we will refund to you the unused balance of your deposits. The Firm may withdraw fees and expenses paid or incurred based on time expended and costs paid or incurred at any time after we submit a monthly invoice to you. Your initial deposit is NOT an estimate of the eventual total for fees and costs to be incurred and any oral estimate is not binding, but the attorney’s best prediction of potential fees based on the facts known to the attorney .

19. Bills*

We will send you a monthly invoice for services performed before the date of the invoice. If your funds held on deposit is less than $500 the invoice may request that you replenish your deposit that has been consumed . Your monthly invoice will identify the services performed, the fees charged for those services, costs and expenses paid or incurred , and a detail of any trust transactions . In our discretion we may invoice you less often than monthly, but you remain obligated to pay all charges upon presentation of an invoice. All amounts are due and payable upon receipt of an invoice. We may cease working if any charges remain unpaid more than 30 days after delivery of an invoice. Invoices may be delivered electronically.

20. Your Responsiblities*

We cannot represent you effectively without your cooperation and assistance. You agree to cooperate fully with us and to promptly provide all information known or available to us that is relevant to your representation. Your obligations include providing timely requested information and documents, cooperating in scheduling and related matters, responding timely to telephone calls and correspondence, and informing us of changes in your address, telephone numbers and email address. It is important that you retain all communications from and to us, including emails and attachments to emails.

The Firm will prepare a document called “Order to Personal Representative and Acknowledgment and Information to Heirs.” After the Probate Court signs this Order, the Firm will submit it to you for your signature, which is required by the Court. When you sign this Order, you will acknowledge receiving a copy of the Order and agree to be bound by its provisions, whether or not you read it before signing. This Order is a very important document because it is an order of the Court that imposes legal obligations on you with respect to your duties as Personal Representative of the Estate. Be sure to read the Order carefully and keep a copy of it handy for reference as the probate progresses. If you have any questions about your duties or are uncertain about anything, please call Richard C. Keyt at 480 -664-7478.

21. Termination of Representation & Post Representation Matters*

Either party may terminate the representation at any time, subject to our obligations under the Arizona attorneys’ Rules of Professional Conduct and the approval of the court if the matter is in litigation. Unless previously terminated, our representation will terminate upon completion of the legal services described in Section 14. You are engaging us to provide legal services in connection with the specific matter identified in this Agreement. Unless you retain us to provide additional advice or services, you understand we have no continuing obligation to represent you. If you request additional legal services outside the scope of those items identified in Section 14 or after the representation is completed or terminated, you agree to pay at the prevailing hourly rates for the requested legal services. If you discharge us before completion of the work, you agree to pay the charges incurred by us in preparing, copying, and delivering your legal file.

22. Document Retention*

Your legal file consists of everything you give us and all everything we receive or create for you during our representation of you. We will return to you any original documents you give us, we create for you, or we receive on your behalf before or within a reasonable time after the completion of the work or the termination of this Agreement. The things we give you constitute your legal file and you agree to take reasonable measures to safeguard your legal file. Upon completion of the work, we will have no ongoing obligation to retain or maintain your file and any retained working copies are for our benefit. We intend to give you copies of all papers as we proceed and you are expected to retain those copies as your legal file

23. Electronic Files*

You agree that we may maintain your records electronically and by the use of digital images. We do not retain paper copies of documents, unless required by rule or statute. During our engagement, you may obtain paper copies of documents in your file upon request to us with reasonable notice. We reserve the right in the exercise of our discretion to charge a reasonable fee for making paper copies, including a per page charge not to exceed $0.30 per page for the cost of paper, toner, equipment charges and an hourly rate for a legal assistant to perform the copying and assembling at the legal assistant’s then hourly rate as provided in Section 16.

24. Electronic Communications*

We may communicate from time to time with you via mobile telephone and email. No form of communication is completely secure and these forms of communication have some risk of improper interception even though we maintain reasonable security measures to assure the confidentiality of your information. We retain many file documents in electronic format only and these may be stored on a separate third party server. Accordingly, unless you instruct us that you prefer to receive only a paper copy in the mail and do not wish to communicate by email , we will send you each document that is relevant to your case by email as a scanned document in “pdf” format. You are responsible for providing us with an email address that you want me to use for correspondence related to the representation. You should check that email address regularly. We will assume that third parties (e.g., employers or family members) do not have access to that email address so you can receive confidential correspondence from us at that address. We also will assume that you are receiving and reviewing our emails at that email address unless you alert us to an issue. Please be certain that your email filters do not block emails from our office and that the allowable size of incoming emails is sufficient to accept emails from us with attachments.

25. Communications*

We will try to return your phone calls within one business day. We encourage email communications. A legal assistant may return your communication, if appropriate. We will not communicate confidential information about the representation to third persons, including your advisors or family members, unless you specifically direct us to do so

26. Arbitration of Fee Disputes*

If a dispute arises between us regarding our fees, the parties agree to resolve the dispute through the Arizona State Bar’s Fee Arbitration Program. Either party may initiate fee arbitration by contacting the State Bar’s Fee Arbitration Coordinator at 602-340-7379.

27. No Legal Advice Regarding this Agreement*

We are not acting as your counsel with respect to this agreement. If you wis h to be advised on whether you should enter into this agreement, we recommend you consult with independent counsel of your choice.

28. Acceptance of This Agreement*

I agree to be legally bound by the terms and conditions set forth above. By checking the box I agree that this Agreement is an electronic contract pursuant to Arizona Revised Statutes Title 44, Chapter 26, known as the Arizona electronic transactions act.

If you agree to be legally bound by the terms and conditions of this Agreement set forth above check the box to the left of this text.

29. Name of Person Who Checked the Box in Section 28*

Enter the legal name of the person who completed this Agreement and checked the box in Section 28.

30. Send Us Your Check*

Your next step to hire us is to send a check for $2,500 payable to KEYTLaw, LLC, to Richard Keyt, 7373 E. Doubletree Ranch Road, Suite 165, Scottsdale, AZ 85258.

Get answers to AZ Probate Questions

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